Episode date: April 22, 2016
Transcript published: December 19, 2016

Fr. Steven stirs the pot of current moral difficulties facing all Orthodox Christians

My dear friends, today’s moral choices can often present a rather bewildering façade to all Orthodox Christians who are trying their best to practice their faith while discerning the things that are happening around them in the best possible manner. It is often a temptation to fall into certain modes of thought which may prove societally acceptable while yet actually going against the interdictates of our faith. I make no pretenses to infallibility in some…

Episode date: January 21, 2016
Transcript published: March 10, 2016

Is there a way of bringing liberal and fundamentalist Christianity together? Fr. Steven thinks the Orthodox Church is the answer.

Dear friends, I pray that the blessings of the Nativity, Theophany, and impending Presentation of the Lord have richly descended upon all of you. The Nativity season gave me some time to observe and reflect on the current state of Christianity in our nation and to try and make sense of some of the things that have occurred on the Christian scene in the last 20 years or so. Growing up as a Methodist gave me my first taste of American Christianity and a particularly…

Episode date: February 19, 2016
Transcript published: March 9, 2016

In the current crazy Presidential contest, Fr. Steven considers the duties and difficulties of an Orthodox Christian in engaging the political process.

Dear friends, inasmuch as the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, the humbling of the exalted at the exaltation of the humble, is upon us, we might do well to give some thoughts and considerations to the wild, woolly, and raucous presidential campaigns that are bombarding us every second of every day, and it’s only going to get worse long before it gets better. Though I generally make it a rule to avoid partisan conversations publicly and with my parishioners…

We profess a faith grounded in the truth and testimony of icons. But has the barrage of secular imagery diluted our witness? Fr. Steven explores the issue of discernment in an age that thrives on images

My dear friends, these days we are under assault, and the enemy is fierce. They are everywhere. No matter how hard we may try, they have managed to infiltrate our work, play, homes, children, and even church. And not only are they everywhere, they continue to strike us with a forthright intensity and overwhelmingly irresistible power that would crush our very wills if possible. What is more insidious is their ability to morph into something that is so familiar and…

Are we as Orthodox Christians doing enough to fill the vacuum that the radical ideology of San Bernardino thrives on? Perhaps our own lack of spiritual fortitude is part of the problem.

Dear friends, well, here we go again. This time, the people of San Bernardino have been made to suffer atrocities that no one, anywhere, deserves, and if by proxy we all suffer with them. I’m as irritated as most of you, and that doesn’t say much, does it? For the irritation stems from an insult to my own sense of propriety and protection, an intrusion of sorts into my world of controlled actions and predetermined piety. It just isn’t fair. In this…

Fr. Steven insists that our response to the recent horrors of the Paris massacre be measured with the grace of the Advent season.

Dear friends, I must admit to being an unabashed Christmas fanatic, always have been and always will be. From my earliest years I was fascinated by the sights, sounds, and smells of the season, the colder weather, the busier traffic—all of it. Of course, when I was growing up, there was actually a more overt manifestation of the holidays, with decorations in the public and private sectors overflowing with Nativity bounty, the roadways littered with wreaths and…

Episode date: July 17, 2015
Transcript published: December 15, 2015

Fr. Steven continues to discuss the Supreme Court ruling on "Same Sex Marriage" in light of our own personhood and what it means to be human.

My dear friends, last time we spoke of the intrinsic disruption that the idea of same-sex marriage poses to the genuine dignity of human personhood. Most of what has been written about the Supreme Court decision a few weeks ago has not focused on this aspect of the topic. To me, however, it is the critical facet of this issue from two points of view. Firstly, because Justice Kennedy’s swing decision and consequent explanation focuses on an idea of human…

Episode date: August 18, 2015
Transcript published: November 13, 2015

It's summertime! Does God speak to us through the wind, waves, and sun? Fr. Steven thinks so, and talks about why all of life is sacred and that our witness weakens because we fail to live the Church outside the Church.

My dear friends, you’ve all been there: the sun beating down on the sand, the smell of fresh and restorative sea salt peppering the air, the sound of the crashing waves, far more effective than any sound-box could ever be, the brisk and startling taste of salt water, the unbelievably beautiful vistas, whether on a clear day or cloudy. Yes, I’m talking about a visit to the ocean. As the summer wraps down and we are called back to more serious things through…